Delitzsch course

[Daniel]

Hi dear colleagues,

I've been off for a while and might be finally leaving Leipzig soon. However, I also got
Torsten's mail regarding teaching the AFI group on these days and he asked me to post my availability here.
The problem is still that I'm available in general but cannot assure that no later event could possiböly interfere with fixed schedule because I'm in a couple of job application processes.
Tomorrow I'll go to Berlin for such an event and won't have access to the forum till I get back home on Wednesday. August 7 is a day I'll most probably be available and I should have a clearer view as for the other dates by the end of this week.
So, don't hesitat to keep me updated in case english-team needs a trainer. I'll take it up if I can manage.
Have a good start into the week.

Best regard,
Daniel

[Scott Graham]

Hi Daniel,
It's good to hear you're doing well.
You're leaving Leipzig? Where will you be going?

Take care and have fun

Scott
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[Daniel]

Hi Scott, hi all,

I might be going to Berlin but nothing's settled yet. I might as well go somewhere else or stay here in Leipzig.
I have a question regarding the Delitzsch course(s); according to Torsten the group I'll be teaching tomorrow at Dübener Str. does not have a book. Do all posts mentioning exercises in "Business Basics" refer to a group other than the one I'll do?

Regards,
Daniel

[Scott Graham]

Hi Daniel,
Yes that's correct, we had 2 groups running at the same time in Delitzsch. The posts that refer to the business basics book are for a group that finished a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure you're aware that the group you will be teaching are the 'Air-cargo' group, so the best thing to do is focus the English on this topic. Also I would suggest constantly reviewing basic english such as introductions, question forms, prepositions and other such things as this group have not had so many lessons.

Of course if you have more questions Torsten, Roberto and after today Mathias can help you more as they have worked with this group.

Have fun and I hope to speak with you soon.

Regards Scott
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[Daniel]

Hi Scott, hi Roberto, Mathias, Torsten,

Thanks a lot for the clarification, Scott. that's the way I figured it from what Torsten had told me.
We actually went through a good deal of basics again starting with introductions, some general chat and a crossword puzzle. we the reviewed the present simple in statements and negatives using a number of frequent verbs. We also reviewed personal pronouns, the be-verb and country adjectives which took us to a people and places quiz at the end of the day. I'll be with them again on Tuesday and will post another report then.
Roberto, Evi asked me to remind you of your offer to provide an official Dutch translator for her.

Regards,
Daniel

[Daniel]

Hello Trainer Colleagues,

I'm sorry I could not post my report yesterday.
It was a good day with some detectable progress regarding several students.
We started with a review of the present simple tense forming diffeent kinds of sentences. Except for Elena who does hardly speak at all and Ute the penny seems to have dropped. We did a pair work asking questions and giving answers about routine activities incorporatin negatives as well as third person singular particularities.
We then worked on basic explanations of Incoterms focusing on air cargo related vocab.
This took us through a good part of the morning and early afternoon before we finished with a couple of jokes and another pair work requiring students to inquire about phnoe numbers and to provide the requested information.
As a whole, the group seemed quite motivated and improving. A regular review of and reintroduction to basic aspcts will be beneficial to all.

Best regards,
Daniel

[Roberto]

Hi dear trainer colleagues,

I've spent two days in Delitzch in intensive training with the air cargo class this week. Most of the participants are making more and more progress.
I'd like to update you on the last lessons given there.

Wednesday 19th:

- A short review of the present and past tenses. The relevant endings both in present and past tenses, i.e., -s/-es for the present simple and -ed/-d for the past simple. We reviewed of course the most important irregular forms.
- The continuous or progressive tenses: verb to be + -ing. Comparison with the German verbal system. Signal words: always, often, sometimes, seldom, occasionally etc. versus now, just now, Look! Listen! Two actions in the past (-ing versus simple form)
- practical part: exercises in class Past tenses simple versus continuous.
- translation of the exercises into German: spelling exercises of the most difficult words
- tricks that enable the student to spell words correctly, among other things German-English comparisons based on the second Germanic consonant and vowel shift, such as: pf,ff, f > p, tz, z, ß, ss > t; ch >k; d > th; t > d etc. Vowel shifts: e.g.: long German a (written aa, a, ah) = English long /i:/, mostly written as ee, ea: Straße = street; Stahl = steel; Schlaf = sleep; Jahr = year; klar = clear;
Another frequent vowel shift: German short e /e/ = frequent English spelling ea, however the pronunciation may vary: essen = eat; lernen = learn; exceptions are not rare: vergessen = forget etc. One of my favourite tricks is: the German long vowel /e:/ or /ä:/, mostly spelt as eh, ee or simply e often corresponds in the related English words to long /o/ the way it is pronounced in "go": the spelling may vary in this case too: o, oe, oa. For example: geh! = go! Schnee = snow; Schlehe = sloe; Reh = roe; Zeh = toe; mähen = mow; Krähe = crow. This rule could be also applied to lots of German words containing the sound /ai/, written as ei: Heim= home; Stein = stone; allein = alone; Reihe = row; beide = both; Eid = oath; Eiche = oak etc.
I have been gradually giving them these tricks with the aim to acquire a "transparency" between these two related Germanic languages. I just come up with these tricks at relevant moments.
- we spent the afternoon sitting at the computers and doing online exercises (english-test-net). Business English for Beginners. We also looked at some hangman exercises about English vocab: e.g. countries, animals, USA, GB etc.

Friday 21st

- past/present simple versus past/present continuous: new exercises
- spelling and pronunciation exercises
- ending -th (pronunciation) in abstract words: long > length; grow > growth; bear > birth; wide > width; die > death
- pronunciation of the ending -ed/-d: /d/, /t/, /id/. Voiced versus voiceless consonants
- silent consonants in English: comb, Wednesday, could etc.
- marry, get married, be married, marry; remind versus remember
- prepositions on, at, in. Time expressions
- expressing time in English: different ways. Prepositions to/past; additional words: half, quarter; a.m. , p.m. ; o'clock
- reading comprehension: Do you have anything to declare? (from: Headway, Pre-Intermediate)
- Income-terms: review. We read a new text and translated all of the sentences included in this text. We had a short discussion then.
- spontaneous conversations in the class: e.g. How old are you? How old were you when both parts of Germany were reunified? How long have you been married? etc.

I'll keep you informed on more details next week.

Regards,

Roberto
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[Roberto]

Hi dear English-trainers,

I hope you are all enjoying the summertime despite the intensive courses given in different German cities and towns. As promised, this time I'd like to update you on the last sessions with the air cargo group in Delitzsch. Here is the summary of the main aspects:

Wednesday 26th August:

Grammar (Syntax, phonetics, spelling):
- ending -y and plural in -ies; as usual, I tried to explain the importance of discovering analogies when learning the language. For example: the ending -y can be also be found in adjectives such as easy. On the one hand, adjectives change too, they can form a comparative and superlative form by adding -er or -est: old, older, oldest. But if there is one that ends in -y, the same change occurring in the plural of the words in -y, is found here: easy> easier > easiest. On the other hand, adjectives can also be converted into adverbs by adding the suffix -ly: recent > recently; and here too: easy > easily.
- Usage of adverbs. Exercises in class: Common mistakes made in English. Online exercises and handouts. Expressions: highly-paid versus low-paid workers.
- Differences between great, big and large
- Prepositions used after some verbs, nouns and adjectives: filled with anger, proud of, depend on, disappointed about, hatred of/for etc. Expression(s): take it out on someone.
- silent consonants: comb, climb, listen, often etc. Exercises. Spelling tricky words and expressions
- translation of short texts (general language). Online exercises

Vocabulary:
- apart from some of the above-mentioned words and expressions, we spoke about the meaning of these words: fear, experience, habit etc. Then I asked the group to find out a connection with the German language:
Results: fear is related to Gefahr provided that we know that long German /aa/ often corresponds to an English long /i:/ and that the German prefix Ge- doesn't exist in Modern English any longer. Other examples: Straße = street; schlafen = sleep; Aal = eel; Jahr = year; klar = clear; Stahl = steel; Mahl = meal etc.
As for experience, they found out the relationship to Experte, Experiment and the semantic connection between "Erfahrung = experience und Gefahr = danger and Angst = fear", both in German derived from the verb fahren: "Fear is an attitude or orientation to a risk (= danger).
As for habit = Gewohnheit, I showed them the bridge between inhabitant and habit: inhabitant has the same stem habit like the word habit itself. The same happens in German: Gewohnheit and Einwohner both deriving from wohnen.
- Air cargo services, glossary: perishable goods; expressions and useful words regarding air cargo services; reading comprehension (air cargo services, perishable goods). The text was read, discussed and translated then.
- business correspondence: basics;
- adverbs/adjectives/prepositions of direction and position: up, down, lower, below, upper, above, top and bottom
- absence of the definite article in English. Exercises

In the last hour we read an interesting text about a Colombian bilingual island (both English and Spanish speakers) located at the Caribean Sea.

Wednesday 2nd September:

- dealing with business letters. Their layout, parts of a business letter: letterhead, references, date, salutation, text body, complimentary close, signature, enclosures
- pronunciation of some important words regarding English business correspondence. Pronunciation changes of some vowels or even consonants, e.g. sign /sain/ and signature, invite and invitation etc.
- ordinal numbers, ending -th, excepting 2nd = second and 3rd = third. Spelling and pronunciation of some rather difficult numbers: five and fifth for example.
- abstract words ending in -th: death, birth, health, width, length etc.
- spontaneous conversations in class: when is your birthday? Months of the year (review), expressing dates in English. What was your favourite subject at school? etc.
- enquiries/inquiries: we read two short business letters regarding enquiries. The structure of both letters were analysed and discussed. Special expressions such as "place an order" were translated into German too (einen Auftrag erteilen).
- the basic verbs "to be, to have, to go and to get" were reviewed in some oral and written exercises. Have you got a (object)? Are you going to (verb)? and get + adjectives: get tired, get worse, get better, get wet etc.

- English-test-net exercises (online)

I'll come up with more reports next week!

Regards
Roberto
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GMAT Preparation & GMAT Vocabulary
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[Roberto]

Dear English-trainers,

it was a beautiful day I spent together with the Air Cargo-group although I know they have to pull themselves together. I told the group they should not forget that learning anything is quite important for everyone and that there is no age restriction. We spent eight hours working hard and doing practical exercises though I would have wished they had worked more quickly. O.K. I must admit it was Friday and on Friday lots of people are rather thinking of leaving for the weekend.
I sometimes like to repeat that English is a useful tool for everyone nowadays that getting more and more important. In addition, English can help the participants to broaden their horizons and become more competitive in the modern society.
We read a text about the British Airways and Railway. The relevant vocab was explained, practised, repeated and compared with the German corresponding words, collocations, expressions and terms. One of the women asked if we have to learn that much. My answer: if you learn efficiently now, it will pay off later.
You live and learn, I said, "man lernt nie aus", as the saying goes in German.
I exchanged some words with some colleagues and in my opinion, it is true that we should do something. What would we do at home if we are not learning, working or sleeping at all? Working means here: cooking, repairing something, ironing, taking the garbage down or out, sweeping and mopping the flat. We need to eat and drink or relax, maybe chinwag with some friends.
I asked them: why do we need to learn? Shall we learn? Do we have to learn?
Well, I think that we have to. Or better still: we should - I don't want to sound very strict - Most of them agreed.
Creating in us an awareness of the way we learn things can help us a lot. A bit of discipline is alright. Moreover, learning should be fun! Some of them have learned to consider English as a hobby. I am really pleased to notice this. Their apparent "I must/I should learn" has gradually changed into an "I want" or "enjoy" and will eventually change into an "I can/I master". Thus, life begins to laugh with you and smile at you (again)!!

Here is a summary of some aspects covered on that Friday 18 and Friday 11 September:

- business letters: dealing with inquiries
- common telephone phrases
- spelling hard words in English (Air Cargo)
- reading Air Cargo texts (Air Way Bills): important specific vocabulary and their German translation.
- English Grammar: tag questions, modal verbs (review), past tenses (review: need further review), -ing-form
- translation from German into English of a short text regarding weather in UK. Some of them have still problems with the sentence structure in English (correct order words e.g.).
- pronunciation drills
- some important cities and countries in the world - international trade
- a brief introduction about English history (Industrial Revolution)
- Denglish and false friends : exercises
- the use of some indefinite pronouns: any/some; somebody, someone, anyone etc....Exercises (needs review)
- Irregular plural forms. Ending -s/-es Also found in verbs (3.person singular)
- Time expressions: telling the time. Exercises.
- Small talk: Going shopping in Delitzsch.

I wish you a nice week and we will keep in touch!

Regards,

Roberto
_________________
Graduate Management Admission Test
GMAT Preparation & GMAT Vocabulary
Learn more about: Roberto Enrique Steffens Villarreal